For Tixeon

[nldunne]

T W

This image I worked up with the GRAY SCALE in the normal way. When it came time to put the colour back in - I put 4 FEW CLICKS LESS COLOR than the DEFAULT VALUE - to try to keep the flash light level from overpowering the rest of the image.

My thought is - it turned out not too bad - as the time was about 06.30 or so.

There is an image on the end #6 as well.

[Tixeon]

Norm; Those skin tones look very natural on my monitor - very pleasing & not too saturated.

On the subject of monitors... It's very difficult to know what the other person sees & prefers, so, take what I see on my monitor with a grain of salt. My monitor is balanced to the Fuji Frontier lab printer standard - with no printer corrections in place. Your preferences may be different, but still correct for you, & that's ok................tw

[nldunne]

T W

My screen is just set in the normal way and seems to give good results - so I just leave it well enough alone.

My thanks for your kind words. They are most apprecliated. I really like working with the slightly softer colours as I can use the magniflying glass to match my colour brightness to the TONAL VALUE I chose for my GRAY SCALE match in b/w as another befefit.

[nldunne]

T W

I had a little fun tonight at my expense.

When I did this one - I reduced the light by 4 CLICKS to make my Gray Scale Match. As I added my colour back in - I found I had to go 4 CLICKS up in colour for my colour balance with my Gray Scale Card. That I found most interesting .

My skin had a bit of extra color in the light that day - even in the original.

This is another way to create an interesting look in an image - brightness, contrast and now - subtle color changes.

[Tixeon]

Norm; When you say you had to go 4 CLICKS up in colour, do you mean that you ended back where you started?

On some of these, could you post the original color image also, before any adjustment via your Gray Scale Card. This way we could see what improvements you made in the color image.....tw

[nldunne]

T W

First - my DEFAULT NO. is 50. If I go 4 CLICKS UP, I to go VALUE 54 my SATURATION TOOL. My SATURATION SCALE GOES FROM 0 TO 100.

Here is the original of me and Anne. I think both are a tad darker for me and brighter for Anne.

There is not a substantial difference, but a little bit.

[Tixeon]

Aahh!!, Now I understand better what you do when you refer to adjusting the color. Thanks...........tw

Thanks also for posting the before photos. That helped a lot...........tw

[nldunne]

T W

My more current images are better examples of colour changes, but not the type of material for here totally - just boring family images.

If I can find one different - I will show you how the current images work - I feel much better.

Here is one from the Island that I did and I will include all - original, and worked up copies. It is older, but the worked up copies are much closer to the proper light for the day time.

[Tixeon]

Thanks Norm; That really helps me see where you're coming from. Your camera seems to give a somewhat contrasty & saturated image & you generally like less of each. Most P&S digital cameras tend to do that. My Canon 5D has what is called "Picture Styles" & I tend to use Neutral as my base setting. This gives me the softer contrast, less saturated look right away. Like you, I will increase contrast &/or saturation as needed. I hope this also helps you see where I'm coming from too.

Almost forgot - Very nice photo of your wife. She seems to be very tolerant of being photographed so much...................tw

[nldunne]

T W

On my PROGRAM AUTO MODE, I have different settings for almost any situation going. In recent times I have been using the AUTO SETTING right out of the box.

When we first got the cam, I almost wore it out trying every setting and menu on the cam. Sadly, I was not doing what I am now with the images. Maybe I should go back to PROGRAM AUTO and try some of these settings to find out what results my GRAY SCALE CARD can really give me. Thanks for the suggestion.

I do see well how you do your images as well.

My image of Anne posted just above is based on a DEGAS painting of a BALLET MASTER leaning on a rod speaking to his class. Anne is quite tolerant of my testing and lets me try things. She likes to see the results i achieve as well.

My thanks for the kind words.

[nldunne]

T W

I came across an interesting idea.

At the end of a website dealing with High End art, I found a screen check chart.
Masters of Portrait Art: Commission a corporate, official, government or family portrait from one of today's top portrait artists

I cropped out the main part with the lady's face and color strips, grey scale and such. Then I made a b/w copy of the color part with the lady's face to use as a skin match (mainly for fun - but also for learning). There is a small amount of tones below the black bar - below the ladys's face - that really work well for skin tone match - even in color as well as b/w. I used those to match the brightest part of the cheek on Anne's left (our right) cheek.

Using the b/w and color versions of the main color scale I worked on an image - the same as I did with my GRAY SCALE CARD - to see what would happen. I did not use the grey scale here.

I will show my result and let you decide how I did. The original was not that different, but for very, very slight darker skin tones (only 1 or 2 clicks).

[Tixeon]

Another charming image, Norm. You held the tones very well. Only the bridge of the nose is close to being too bright. The top light is what did that & is very problematic for everyone. An interesting link you posted - good info. I'll look up one for you that I refer to occasionally & post it later. In the meantime you might find the following link interesting.........tw

http://www.riecks.com/pdf/digizone.pdf

[nldunne]

T W

My thanks for the kind words, T W. They are appreciated. I study the paintings in my link quite frequently.

We are just on our way for errands, but I will study the link on my return.

[Tixeon]

Norm; This link is not the one I was looking for but it's close & may be helpful in some small way. Click on the center image for a larger downloadable version........tw

Andrew Darlow Images International

[nldunne]

T W

I am home now. I will give both links a study and see what comes from them.

My thanks for them.

Here are a couple of links of material I love to study as well as the first one.
Essential Vermeer
A Stroke of Genius Portrait Artists - Corporate, Government, Official, Family & Children's Portraits

Some of the work of these artists is incredible - for sure.

[Tixeon]

Norm; You have a N+ Natural color mode setting on your camera if you find that most images are too saturated. You may also have a N Normal setting also, & It's between the V+ Vivid & the N+ Natural for the saturation. If you have not already tried these it might make for some interesting discoveries.......................tw

[nldunne]

T W

I have tried every MENU, SETTING and everything in between on this cam when we first got it (that was stated before), but I have not tried those settings (as I stated not far above) with this new technlique I am using.

Yes, it may make for some interesting images.

This cam - for its size - has some most interesting settings - that I should try with my new technique.

BTW - I hope you enjoy looking at the images in the links. They have helped me with how to do people, location settings and all - and as they have many good awards for their work - like the Old Masters, they are good examples to study.

[nldunne]

T W

Here is an example where I used the color chart from the Portrait Site both in b/w and color on the same image in HUE/SATURATION. i used the magnifying glass to help balance the image.

This was done in place of my Gray Scale Card. I 'piggybacked the three sets of tones in bottom right corner over the skin in my image - to work on this one - they match skin tones quite well.

[Tixeon]

Good use of the chart Norm & thanks for the Artist links.............tw

[nldunne]

T W

Glad I could help - re the links.

As for the color chart - I have done a couple of images with it since these - and I feel it did as well or slightly better than my Gray Scale. I especially like the chart when I use the cam on ALL AUTO setting - the one straight from the box (Factory Default). This gives me the opporturnity to make what changes may/may not suit an image.

A Good Day to you.